Sunday, 5 February 2017

Wedding Guest Cleared Of Bloody Kitten Heel 'Elevator-Rage' Blow

Innocent: Katie O'Connor

A wedding
guest has been acquitted of assaulting another woman in a hotel lift
after claiming she was defending herself from attack in the early
hours.Katie
O'Connor, 30, of Cross Heath Grove, Beeston, Leeds says her shoe heel
accidentally caught the top of the woman's head as she fought her
off.She was
found not guilty of assaulting Amy Bishop, causing her actual bodily
harm, at the Safari Hotel, Chessington World of Adventures, on
November 7, last year.“She
kept trying to grab my hair and I pushed her off,” O'Connor told
Wimbledon Magistrates Court. “I didn't hit her with the shoe, I
think as she's going for me she's grazed her head.“I've
gone up to push her with the shoe in my hand and obviously the kitten
heel has caught her in the head.”Work
colleagues of Ms Bishop, who works for Chessington World of
Adventures, described blood pouring down her face from a cut to her
head and twice passing out on the lobby floor.Prosecutor
Mr. Ijaz Malik said it was 1.20am when the complainant and her
colleagues, who had just attended an awards evening at Epsom
racecourse, entered the lift, followed by the defendant.“Ms
O'Connor entered the lift with her partner as the doors were closing
and there is a verbal altercation with Ms Bishop.“That
escalated to pulling her hair and hitting her across the head with
the shoe heel, causing bleeding.”Ms Bishop
did not attend the trial and colleague Nicola Crust, who was also in
the lift, told the court: “She's not well today due to the stress
that has been caused since this incident.“Amy and
I got squashed at the back of the lift and Amy said: 'Can you move
forward, you're crushing us.'“A
female voice said: 'Who do you think you are? We called the lift
first.'“We
raised our eyebrows and suddenly an arm came from behind the male and
the female tried to grab Amy's hair.“Amy
screamed out of shock and I shouted at the woman to let go, but she
carried on.“She was
then kicking Amy and trying to grab her a the same time.“I got
out of the lift and she screamed my name. She had her hand on her
forehead with blood streaming down her face.“The
lady was standing there with her shoe in her hand, she was holding
the sole part of the shoe.“I got
Amy out of the lift and she collapsed on the floor and lost
consciousness.“The
whole time the woman was swearing and screaming at the top of her
voice, using the word 'f***' a lot.“Amy had
a gash to her centre-parting, it was horseshoe-shaped and the other
lady lunged at me and tried to kick me.“I felt
sick, I was shaking, it was complete shock. I can't believe it
happened.”Another
work colleague, Gaye West, told the court the blonde woman in the
lift told them: “We're paying guests.”“From
nowhere the woman launched at Amy. She grabbed her hair and tried to
pull her.“She had
her shoe in her hand and hit Amy with her high-heel on top of the
head.“Amy
took her hands away and she was covered in blood.”Police
were called and described O'Connor as: “Intoxicated, volatile and
verbally aggressive.”They also
concluded Ms Bishop was “drunk.”